Method and system for generating and trading composite contracts

ABSTRACT

The disclosed embodiments provide a system and method for automatically generating a composite contract characterized by at least one parameter. A first subset of eligible component contracts is identified from a set of available component contracts wherein each of the available component contracts is characterized by at least one attribute. A second subset of component contracts is then selected from the first subset to generate the composite contract.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation under 37 C.F.R. §1.53(b) of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/301,775 filed Nov. 20, 2002 now U.S. Pat.No. 7,624,062, which claims the benefit to U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 60/365, 423 filed Mar. 18, 2002, the entire disclosures ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Many financial markets, such as the New York Stock Exchange, AmericanStock Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Tokyo Nikkei Exchange andother financial markets drive the economies of countries throughout theworld. These markets measure the movement of investments or financialinstruments. Financial instruments are assets or items with value thatmay be purchased for income, hedging, or capital appreciation.

There are many different types of financial instruments, for examplestocks, bonds, futures contracts. Stocks are shares entitling thestockholder to dividends and to other rights of ownership, such asvoting rights. A stockholder (a.k.a., a shareholder) has a claim to partof the assets and earnings of the corporation.

Futures contracts are standardized agreements, traded on a futuresexchange, to buy or sell a commodity at a specified price at a date inthe future. A futures contract specifies the commodity, quality,quantity, delivery date and delivery point or cash settlement.Traditionally, a commodity is a bulk good traded on an exchange, cash orother type of market. Some examples of a commodity include grain, oil,oats, gold, silver and natural gas. More recently, futures contractshave been based on commodities that include foreign currencies,financial instruments and stock indexes. Futures contracts aretransferable between parties.

Bundle contracts, also referred to as composite contracts, areexchange-traded agreements to buy or sell a combination of financialinstruments, such as a combination of stocks, futures contracts etc.Some composite contracts, including those known as X-funds, traded atthe Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, are vehicles to replicate thereturns of multiple financial instruments such as futures contracts in aunit, i.e. with one action. In other situations, when a compositecontract is bought and/or sold, the actual underlying componentcontracts are bought and/or sold all at once. The composite contractsimplifies trading by permitting the trader to deal with a singleinstrument having a single set of parameters, for example one price andone quantity, rather than with multiple instruments having differentprices and quantities, all at one time. The first type of compositecontract is a separate entity with parameters of its own, such ascontract size and pricing convention, where the parameters are computedbased on the attributes of the underlying component contracts. Theattributes of the underlying component contracts used to compute theparameters of the composite contract, taken alone or in combination, mayinclude the price, the quantity, the volatility, the expiration, orother attributes, now or later developed, of the underlying componentcontracts. The second type of composite commodity has similarparameters, including its own pricing convention, but differs in that atransaction is an expedited surrogate for transactions in theconstituent instruments. That is, positions are established or offset inthe constituent instruments per the definition of the compositecommodity.

As an example of such a composite commodity, we may consider the usesmade of a particular futures contract. Eurodollar (ED) futures contractsare futures contracts based on “eurodollars,” which are time depositsdenominated in U.S. dollars that are deposited in commercial banksoutside the U.S. The Eurodollar futures contract, developed andintroduced by The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”) in 1981,represents an interest rate on a three-month deposit of $1 million.Eurodollar futures contracts are listed according to a regular pattern:quarterly contracts that terminate in March, June, September, andDecember (“March Quarterly Cycle contracts”) plus additional contractsin the four nearest months not in the March Quarterly Cycle. The MarchQuarterly Cycle contracts are frequently purchased and sold inequally-weighted groups of four, such as the June 2003, September 2003,December 2003, and March 2004 contracts; these groups are called packs.These four consecutive series of ED futures contracts are quoted on anaverage net change basis from the previous day's daily settlement price,rounded to one-quarter of a basis point (or tick).

A Eurodollar pack, made up of four consecutive quarterly contracts asdiscussed above, is designated by a color code, similar to the codesused to designate the underlying ED futures contracts that correspond toits position on a yield curve. Generally nine different packs are tradedat any given time, such as red, green, blue, gold, purple, orange, pink,silver and copper, that correspond to Eurodollar future years 2-10.

A combination of packs is referred to as an ED bundle. A Eurodollarfutures bundle describes the simultaneous sale or purchase of each oneof a series of consecutive Eurodollar packs or Eurodollar futurescontracts from one to ten years. (For historical reasons the group ofthe nearest four contracts in the March Quarterly Cycle is called abundle, instead of a pack.) The first contract in any bundle is usuallythe first quarterly contract in the Eurodollar futures strip. Strips ofED futures are simply the coordinated purchase or sale of a series offutures contracts with successive quarterly expiration dates. Oneexception to the first contract in the bundle being the first quarterlycontract in the ED futures strip is the 5-year “forward” bundle, whichcovers years five through ten of the Eurodollars futures strip. Forexample, on Mar. 31, 2001, the first contract in a 5-year “forward”bundle would be June 2006 (the 21st contract in the strip), and December2011 (the 40th contract) the last. Bundles and packs can also betransacted beginning with any contract month in the March QuarterlyCycle, so long as the most deferred contract in the combination islisted for trading. Forty contracts in the March Quarterly Cycle arelisted for trading at any given time.

In any bundle, the price is quoted in terms of net change during thecurrent trading session from the previous day's daily settlement price.Specifically, the bundle's price quotation will reflect the simpleaverage of the net price changes of each of the bundle's constituentcontracts, rounded to one-quarter of a basis point (or tick).

As an example, consider that all of the nearest 21 contracts (e.g., theJune 01 Eurodollar to the June 06 Eurodollar) have enjoyed a three-tickincrease in the price since yesterday's settlement; at the same time theprices of each of the next seven contracts (e.g., the September 05Eurodollar to the March 07 Eurodollar) have posted net gains of fourticks. Under these conditions, the implied fair-value price quotationfor a seven-year bundle would be:[{21*+3)+(7*+4)]/28=+3.25 ticks

This example illustrates an important point that unlike Eurodollarfutures prices which are generally quoted in increments of one-halfbasis point, bundle prices are quoted in increments of one-quarter (¼)of a basis point. For Eurodollar futures, the dollar value of aone-basis point move in the futures price is equal to $25. In contrast,for Eurodollar packs and bundles, the DV01 will always be a multiple of$25, $100 in the case of a pack, $200 in the case of a two-year bundle,etc. LIBOR is the rate of interest at which banks offer to lend funds toother banks, in marketable size, in the London Interbank market.

When a trade occurs, the particulars of the transaction are finalizedand confirmed by the buyer and seller. For example, when a buyer andseller have agreed upon the price and quantity of a bundle, they mustassign mutually agreeable prices to each of the bundle's constituents.In principle, the buyer and seller may set these component prices withone restriction: the price of at least one constituent Eurodollarcontract must lay within that contract's trading range for the day(assuming that at least one of the Eurodollar contracts in the bundlehas established a trading range). In the vast majority of cases, tradersuse a computerized system provided by the Exchange and located on thetrading floor that automatically assigns individual prices to thecontracts within the bundles.

Bundles are simple structures. They are well suited to traders andinvestors who deal in LIBOR-based floating rate products. Such traderscould include investment banks that routinely carry syndicationinventories of floating-rate notes, corporate treasuries that issuefloating-rate debt, or commercial bankers who wish to hedge the riskexposure entailed in periodic loan-rollover agreements.

Some bundles' most avid followers are those market participants who dealin long-dated Treasury-Eurodollar (“TED”) spreads. A Treasury note orT-note is a marketable fixed-interest rate U.S. government debt securitywith a maturity greater than 1 year and 10 years or less. A Treasurybill or T-bill is an U.S. government debt security with a maturity lessthan 1 year. T-bills do not pay a fixed interest rate and they areissued through a competitive bidding process at a discount from par.Such TED spreads trades entail the purchase (or sale) of a treasurysecurity and the simultaneous sale (or purchase) of a strip ofEurodollar futures contracts with a comparable notional term tomaturity. A frequently encountered version of these trades comprises along position in the two-year Treasury note and a short position in somecombination of the nearest seven or eight Eurodollar contracts.

Another method by which traders attempt to associate or combine multiplefinancial instruments is via “synthetic contracts”, another form ofcomposite commodity. A “synthetic contract” is a method of referring toa net position of a portfolio or a portion of a portfolio. Syntheticcontracts are not entities in themselves but represent means of creatingone kind of commodity through combinations of other commodities. Theconstituent components of the synthetic contract are tradedindividually, unlike a composite contract which is associated with itscomponent contracts, as discussed above.

A synthetic futures contract can be created as a combination of a putand a call on the same underlying asset with the same strike price. Asynthetic futures in which the put is sold and the call is purchased isbullish, i.e. hoping for a price rise, is referred to as a “syntheticlong futures.” A synthetic futures in which the put is purchased and thecall is sold is bearish, i.e. hoping for a price fall, is referred to asa “synthetic short futures.” A “synthetic call option” is a combinationof a long futures contract and a long put, also referred to as “asynthetic long call.” A synthetic call option comprising a combinationof a short futures contract and a short put is also referred to as “asynthetic short call.” A “synthetic option” is a combination of afutures contract and an option, in which one component, either thecontract or the option, is bullish and the other component is bearish. A“synthetic put option” is a combination of a short futures contract anda long call, also referred to as a “synthetic long put.” A combinationof a long futures contract and a short call is referred to as a“synthetic short put.” Generally, synthetic contracts include anyfinancial instrument that is created using a collection of other assetswhose combined features are economically the same as those of theinstrument(s) it replicates.

Despite their popularity, such transactions in composite contracts havesuffered due to lack of any generic standard. Bond dealerships thatpromote long-date Treasury-Eurodollar spreads to their clients tend torecommend trades that involve odd numbers of Eurodollar contracts,differing from one point in the Eurodollar strip to the next (“weightedbundle or pack”). The dealers customarily justify their formulations byappealing to proprietary yield-curve models. These models purport tolink the futures spot interest rates that are represented by theEurodollar futures strip to the implied zero-coupon yield curve that isembedded in the prices of the U.S. treasury securities.

Further, due to the characteristics of the underlying financialinstruments, such as Eurodollar (ED) futures contracts, economicallyequivalent composite contracts tend to be unevenly-weighted. Inaddition, composite contracts, such as ED bundle contracts are notwidely available, readily acceptable and they do not provide aninterpretable benchmark against which their performance can be judged.Further, the process of constructing a composite contract, such as aweighted ED bundle contract, is long and tedious, which prohibits rapidexecution of trades in the component contracts. Synthetic contractsprovide a convenient reference system for traders to refer to theirportfolios but are limited as to the mix of underlying contracts thatcan be referred to and do not provide for simplified trading or ease ofbenchmarking.

Accordingly, there is a need for a system to simplify the creation andtrading of composite contracts, increase the availability of suchcontracts to traders, improve their execution rates and simplifyinterpretation of their performance.

SUMMARY

The present invention is defined by the following claims, and nothing inthis section should be taken as a limitation on those claims. By way ofintroduction, the preferred embodiments described below relate to asystem for generating a composite futures contract characterized by atleast one parameter. The system includes a terminal operative totransmit an instruction to generate a composite futures contract and acomposite futures contract generator coupled with the terminal.Preferably the composite futures contract generator is operative toreceive the instruction. The composite futures contract generator isfurther operative to optionally identify a first subset of eligiblecomponent contracts from a set of available component contracts. Each ofthe available component contracts are characterized by at least oneattribute. The composite futures contracts generator is furtheroperative to select a second subset of component contracts from thefirst subset. Preferably, the composite futures contract generator cangenerate the composite futures contract based on the second subset. Thesystem further includes a trading engine coupled with the compositefutures contract generator. The trading engine is operative to receivethe composite futures contract for trading.

The preferred embodiments further relate to a method for automaticallygenerating a first composite futures contract characterized by at leastone parameter. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a firstinstruction to generate the first composite futures contract,identifying a first subset of eligible component contracts from a set ofavailable component contracts, wherein each of the available componentcontracts are characterized by at least one attribute, selecting asecond subset of component contracts from the first subset, andgenerating the first composite futures contract based on the secondsubset.

Further aspects and advantages of the invention are discussed below inconjunction with the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a composite contractsystem;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a compositecontract generator for use with the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an optionalcomposite contract terminator for use with the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that depicts the generation of a compositecontract by the composite contract system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary structure of a composite contract andits relationship with its component contracts;

FIG. 6 depicts a market participation function of the flow chart of FIG.4; and

FIG. 7 depicts a weighing function of the flow chart of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present embodiment of the invention is described herein withreference to the drawings, where like components are identified with thesame reference numerals. These descriptions are intended to beexemplary, in nature and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

Composite contracts, also referred to as bundles, are exchange tradedagreements to buy or sell a combination of financial instruments, forexample a combination of stocks and/or futures contracts, hereinreferred to as the components, component contracts or component futurescontracts. Composite contracts are vehicles to buy/trade multiplefutures contract as a unit, i.e. with one action. Parameters orcharacteristics of the composite contract, for example the price offinancial instruments, are computed based on attributes of theunderlying components such as the underlying component futurescontracts.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary composite contract 500 having parameters 509,such as a price or an expiration date. In this embodiment, the exemplarycomposite contract 500 is associated with three component contracts 503,505, 507 each of which is also characterized by attributes 511, such asa price or an expiration. The association of the composite contract 500with the corresponding component contracts 503, 505, 507 permits thetrading of the component contracts 503, 505, 507 by trading of a singlecomposite contract 500. As will be described below, preferably theparameters 509 of the composite contract 500 are determined based on theattributes 511 of the underlying component contracts 503, 505, 507. Forexample, the maturity date or expiration date of the composite contract500 may be set to the earliest maturity date or expiration date of theunderlying component contracts 503, 505, 507.

When computing the parameters 509 of the composite contract 500, thevalues of the attributes 511 of the underlying component contracts 503,505, 507 may be modified, such as scaled and/or weighted to controltheir influence on the parameter 509 computation. Once the parameters509 are computed, the composite contract 500 can be traded using thoseparameters 509. As trades occur, through normal market mechanisms, theparameters 509 may be adjusted from the originally computed values. Inone embodiment, the parameters 509, once computed, are disassociatedwith the attributes 511 of the underlying component contracts 503, 505,507 and are free to fluctuate independently as trades occur. In anotherembodiment, the parameters 509 of the composite contract 500 remainlinked with the attributes 511 of the underlying components contracts503, 505, 507 and may fluctuate as the attributes fluctuate according tothe normal operation of the market mechanisms.

In the disclosed system, an instruction to generate a composite contractis received by a composite contract generator. The composite contractgenerator analyzes the instruction and proceeds to generate thecomposite contract by optionally identifying a first subset of eligiblecomponent contracts from a set of available component contracts (allfutures contracts, options on futures, options on equities, stocks,bonds, mutual funds, mortgages, exchange traded funds, etc.). Availablecomponent contracts are all the financial instruments, such as stocks,certificates of deposits, futures contracts, etc that are available fortrading. The eligible component contracts are the subset of availablecontracts that meet specified criteria, i.e. include or match anattribute that was requested in the instruction sent to the compositecontract generator, such as a particular price, volatility etc. Eligiblecomponent contracts are those instruments which qualify to be includedwithin composite contracts. Identifying the first subset of eligiblecomponent contracts may be performed by limiting the eligible componentcontracts by any of a variety of mechanisms. For example, an exchangemay wish to have a first subset of eligible component contracts includeonly contracts listed for trading at that exchange or limit the firstsubset of eligible component contracts to futures on equity indexproducts or agricultural commodities. This may be performed implicitlyby limiting the available component contracts to only the eligiblecomponent contracts or by an actual selection process.

After the eligible component contracts are identified, a second subsetof component contracts is selected from the first subset of componentcontracts, i.e. the set of eligible component contracts, for inclusionin the composite contract. Once the second subset of component contractsis selected, i.e., once the composite contract is created, theattributes of each of the component contracts are utilized to computethe parameters of the composite contract. For example, the currenttrading prices of all of the component contracts are averaged to arriveat the trading price of the composite contract. The composite contractis then associated/linked with the component contracts in such a mannersuch that they are traded together, i.e. when a trader trades thecomposite contract, the trader effectively trades the underlyingcomponent contracts The generated composite contract is then madeavailable for trading by transmitting the composite contract to atrading engine, such as the GLOBEX® electronic trading system providedby the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., located in Chicago, Ill.

Prior systems and methods for generating composite contracts, such as EDbundle contracts, produced composite contracts which were unevenlyweighted, suffered from limited availability, limited market acceptanceand/or could only be evaluated against non-standard benchmarks. Inaddition, prior processes for constructing a composite contract werelong and tedious, prohibiting rapid execution of trading of theunderlying component contracts.

The disclosed system for generating composite contracts provides astandard composite contract that is widely available, readily acceptableand provides a standardized benchmark by which to judge the performanceof parameters of the composite contract. In addition, the disclosedsystem provides a simple and easy process for generating a compositecontract that enables rapid execution of trading of the componentcontracts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a composite contractsystem 100 for generating and trading composite contracts. The compositecontract system 100 includes: a terminal 101, a composite contractgenerator 103, and a trading engine 105, where all the components arecoupled with each other in any suitable combination by a communicationlink 102 so as to facilitate communications between the components. Inan alternative embodiment, the system 100 further includes a compositecontract terminator 107 also coupled in combination with the abovecomponents by communications link 102. As used herein, the phrase“coupled with” is defined to mean directly connected to or indirectlyconnected through one or more intermediate components. Such intermediatecomponents may include both hardware and software based components.

Preferably, the communication link 102 connects the terminal 101,composite contract generator 103, trading engine 105 and the optionalcomposite contract terminator 107 over a small geographical area.Alternatively, the communication link 102 may connect the terminal 101,composite contract generator 103, trading engine 105 and the optionalcomposite contract terminator 107 over a vast geographical area. In oneembodiment, the communication link 102 includes a network such as alocal area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a metropolitanarea network, a virtual area network, a wireless local network, a localbus, a direct or indirect satellite network, or combinations thereof.Further, the communications link 102 may include a publicly accessiblenetwork such as the Internet, a privately accessible network such as anIntranet, or a combination of privately and publicly accessiblenetworks. In one embodiment, the communication link 102 includes a dataconversion device, such as a modem, that converts data from one forminto another, e.g. converts data from one form usable with electronicequipment to another form useable over wireless or landlinecommunication technologies. Such conversion devices include conventionalmodems that can be used with the public switched telephone network,cellular modems and other network interface devices. Preferably, thecommunication link 102 provides a high-bandwidth data communication linkthat achieves high transmission speeds and low latency. Further, thecommunications link 102 may utilize secure protocols, such assecure-Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), pretty good privacy(“PGP”), etc., to ensure that communications among the devices coupledwith the link 102 are authorized, authentic and/or otherwiseuncompromised.

Preferably, terminal 101 includes a memory, an interface, a processor,and operating firmware/software that perform functions, such asreceiving input from a user, generating and transmitting instructions toa composite contract generator 103 to generate a composite contract andreceiving a response to those instructions. Terminal 101 may be aconventional computer, a hybrid personal computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a mobile telephone or any otherdevice that can receive and send information through a communicationlink. Terminal 101 may also include a display device, a keyboard, amouse, a touch panel, a graphical user interface (GUI), a printer, ascanner, and/or other input/output devices associated with a computerfor interacting with a user of the terminal 101. In one embodiment,terminal 101 is a personal computer having a Pentium class processor, asuitable memory, hard disk and user interface and a network interfacecompatible with the communications link 102.

As shown in FIG. 1, terminal 101 is connected through the communicationlink 102 to the trading engine 105. The communications link 102 alsoconnects the trading engine 105 to the composite contract generator 103and, in an alternate embodiment, to the composite contract terminator107. In the disclosed embodiments, the trading engine 105 includes amatching system, i.e. a system capable of receiving bids and offers andotherwise managing the execution of trades in a marketplace, such as theGLOBEX® trading system provided by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.,located in Chicago, Ill. The trading engine 105 matches orderselectronically according to one or more trade matching algorithms, suchas a first-in-first-served algorithm, an allocation algorithm, or amarket maker priority algorithm. An “order” can be a bid to purchase oran offer to sell. In one embodiment, the trading engine 105 isimplemented as a software program which executes on a computer systemcapable of executing the trading engine 105 and interfacing with thecommunications link 102. Alternatively, the trading engine 105 may beimplemented as a combination of hardware and software.

Although the trading engine 105 and the composite contract generator 103are illustrated as separate devices that are capable of being run on oneor more computers, in alternative embodiments these systems and methodscan also be integrated within a single device. The trading engine 105 isfurther capable of operating in an automatic, semi-automatic or manualfashion.

The terminal 101 is also connected by the communication link 102 to thecomposite contract generator 103. The composite contract generator 103is further connected by the communication link 102 to the trading engine105 and the composite contract terminator 107.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a compositecontract generator. The composite contract generator 103 receives aninstruction from terminal 101 to generate a composite contract andsubsequently provide notification to the terminal 101 that the compositecontract is available for trading or currently is being traded. In oneembodiment, the instruction includes criteria received from the user ofthe terminal 101 which the generator 103 uses for generating a compositecontract. Such criteria may include the types of contracts that thecomponent contracts are to be selected from, i.e., a specification ofwhich contracts, from all available contracts, are eligible forinclusion in the composite contract. Further, the criteria containedwithin the instruction may include conditions or factors for determiningwhich of the eligible component contracts to select for actual inclusionin the resultant composite contract. In addition, the instruction mayinclude other specifications such as baseline values for use incomputing the trading price, initial trading availability date,expiration date, or other trading parameters. In one embodiment, theinstruction is formatted using a proprietary format. Alternatively, theinstruction may utilize a standardized instruction format.

The criteria by which a composite contact is generated may be specifiedentirely within the instruction, specified entirely as a function of theselection algorithm of the selection processor 203, described below, ora combination thereof. The disclosed embodiments balance the degree ofcontrol that a user has with respect to specifying the selectioncriteria against simplifying the generation process. In one embodiment,the degree of user control may be varied depending on the user.

Once the composite contract has been generated, the composite contractgenerator 103 provides the trading engine 105 with information relatingto the generated composite contract to initiate trading of the compositecontract. For example, the generator 103 may provide the trading engine105 with an electronic record containing a description of the compositecontract, i.e. a list of the component contracts, the composite contractprice and any other parameters that the trading engine 105 requires tomake the composite contract available to the market participants.

The composite contract generator 103 includes a first interface 201, aselection processor 203, an identifier 205, a data storage 207, a secondinterface 209 and a notifier 211. The first interface 201 couples thegenerator 103 with the terminal 101 as described above. The selectionprocessor 203 is coupled with the first interface 201, the identifier205, the second interface 209 and the notifier 211. The identifier 205is further coupled with the data storage 207. The composite contractgenerator 103 may be implemented in either hardware or software, orcombinations thereof. In one embodiment, the composite contractgenerator 103 is implemented within software residing within a computercoupled with the communications link 102.

The first interface 201 receives information from terminal 101 via thecommunication link 102, such as an instruction to generate a compositecontract, as described above. Information received from terminal 101 bythe first interface 201 is transmitted from first interface 201 to theselection processor 203. In one embodiment, the first interface 201further generates an acknowledgement communication to the terminal 101acknowledging receipt of the information.

In one embodiment, the first interface 201 is a software algorithm thatis compatible with the communication link 102. For example the firstinterface 201 is an application program interface (API) programcompatible with communication link 102. Alternatively, the firstinterface 201 is a hardware device having pre-processing functionalitythat is compatible with the communication link 102. For example, thefirst interface 201 is a network interface, optical sensor interface, orEthernet interface that is compatible with the communication link 102.In another embodiment, the first interface 201 may be implemented as acombination of software and hardware that is compatible with thecommunication link 102. Further, the first interface 201 may includesoftware functionality to decode, decrypt, authenticate or otherwiseimplement secure communications between the terminal 101 and thegenerator 103.

Selection processor 203 receives the information, i.e. instructions,from the first interface 201 and acts on the instructions. Generally,selection processor 203 identifies, based on the instructions itreceived from the terminal 101 via the first interface 201, whichcontracts, from all available contracts, are eligible to be consideredfor inclusion in the composite contract, also referred to herein as afirst level selection. Identification of eligible component contractsfrom the pool of available contracts is performed by the identifier 205.The identifier 205 is coupled with a data storage 207 which storesrepresentative data of all available contracts. In one embodiment, aswill be described, the identifier performs a basic boolean, numeric oralphanumeric search on the data stored in the data storage using searchparameters provided by the selection processor 203. In this embodiment,the identifier 205 operates under the direction of the selectionprocessor 203. In an alternate embodiment, the selection processor 203includes the identifier 205. In another embodiment, the data storage 207is kept up to date by the trading engine 105 as to the currentlyavailable contracts.

Preferably, the data storage 207 is a conventional storage system, suchas a hard disk or memory. Data storage 207 stores data regarding thefollowing contracts available in the associated exchange/trading engine:interest rate futures contracts, commodity futures contracts, domesticcurrency futures contracts, foreign currency contracts, exchange futurescontracts, single stock futures contracts, chemical futures contracts,financial index futures contracts, weather futures contracts, foreignbased futures contracts, stocks, options, certificates of deposits,bonds, an amount of cash, assets, and other exchange traded instruments,such as Exchange Trade Funds (“ETF's”). Assets refer to stock,certificate of deposits or cash. ETF is a security that tracks an indexbut has the flexibility of trading like a stock. ETF represents a basketof stocks that reflect an index. The difference is that an ETF isn't amutual fund, it trades just like any other company on a stock exchange.Available contracts may be puts, calls, long or short. Data storage 207may also include market data information, expert opinion and financialquotes.

From those eligible contracts identified by the identifier 205, theselection processor 203 selects, again based on the receivedinstructions, particular component contracts for inclusion in acomposite contract, also referred to herein as a second level selection.Although performed in separate processes, the first and second levelselections may also be performed as a single selection process. Datarepresenting the available contracts is stored on the data storage 207that is coupled with the identifier 205.

As discussed above, the instructions include information such as theselection criteria for choosing which component contracts, based ontheir attributes, should be included in the composite contracts. Theselection of component contracts by the selection processor 203 andidentifier 205 is accomplished by using one or more selectionalgorithms. The selection algorithms include computational or decisionalprocessing routines which generally accept the instruction providedcriteria and the parameters of the contracts undergoing evaluation asinputs to one or more functions, the output of which determines theselection of the given contract. The functions may include Boolean,numeric or alphanumeric based computations or combinations thereof. Theselection algorithms may factor in the user defined criteria provided inthe instructions or the algorithm may operate autonomously to selectcomponent contracts or a combination thereof, as described above. Firstlevel selections may use a selection algorithm different from theselection algorithm used for second level selections, or the algorithmsmay be the same. Where the same selection algorithm is used for both thefirst and second level selections, the criteria for each algorithm maybe the same or different.

In one embodiment, selection processor 203 and identifier 205 areimplemented in software as part of the composite contract generator 103described above. For example, the selection processor 203 and identifier205 may be processing application programs. Alternatively, the selectionprocessor 203 and/or identifier 205 may be implemented as hardwareintegrated with the hardware and/or software that form the compositecontract generator 103. Preferably, this hardware includesmicroprocessors, micro-controllers, or digital signal processors, havingan electronic erasable program read only memory (EEPROM) or Flashmemory, static random access memory (RAM), a clocking/timing circuit, orany typical processor utilized in an electrical device. In anotherembodiment, the selection processor 203 and/or identifier may beimplemented as a combination software algorithm and hardware device.

The selection algorithms work with the data storage 207, which storesdata which describes available component contracts and other factors, todetermine the set of eligible component contracts from which to generatethe composite contract.

Examples of selection algorithms for use with first level selectionsinclude algorithms based on current or average trading price,expiration, contract type, underlying commodity type, price volatility,user preference, or combinations thereof. These criteria may be comparedagainst corresponding parameters of the available contracts beingevaluated using a Boolean based equality or threshold type function or anumeric based computation, or combinations thereof. It will beappreciated that other selection algorithms, now or later developed, mayalso be used, including selection algorithms listed below for secondlevel selection, including selection algorithms based on factors such asweather conditions, market indexes, etc., or combinations thereof. Forexample, the selection algorithm may accept the type of contract andminimum trading price for inclusion in the eligible contract subset,such as gold futures with a minimum trading price of $350. The selectionalgorithm will review all available contracts and select all goldfutures contracts based on matching of the underlying commodity type.Next the selection algorithm performs a combined Boolean/numericcomputation to determine which gold contracts are trading at a priceequal to or greater than the specified threshold value of $350. Theresultant subset of contracts then meets the specified criteria.

Examples of selection algorithms for use with second level selectionsinclude those algorithms listed above for first level selection plus aweighting based algorithm which selects contracts from the eligiblecomponent contracts for inclusion in the composite contract based on aweighting value assigned to each eligible contract, a marketparticipation algorithm which selects contracts from the eligiblecomponent contracts based on votes from market participants, a productmix algorithm which selects diverse component contracts from theeligible component contracts based on volatility, investment or acategorized grouping and an aggregate pooling algorithm which selectscontracts from the eligible component contracts based on a commongrouping or categorization such as a large capitalization, smallcapitalization, currency and agricultural products. The selectionprocessor 203 may implement one or more of these selection algorithms.As explained above for the selection algorithms for first levelselection, the selection algorithms used in the second level selectionmay include Boolean based equality or threshold type functions ornumeric based computations, or combinations thereof, and further thefirst and second level selections may be combined using a combinedselection algorithm which both determines the eligible componentcontracts and those contracts which will ultimately be included in thecomposite contract.

A weighting algorithm includes an index-based function based on a marketcapitalization of the eligible components or a futures based index. Asexplained above, eligible component contracts include financialinstruments, such as stocks, bonds, agricultural futures contracts thatare available for trading. In one embodiment, the eligible componentswhich have a greater share or higher trading volumes are assigned ahigher weighting value. Those eligible components whose weighting valuemeets or exceeds a specified threshold are then selected for inclusionin the resultant composite contract. Preferably, the post processingcomputation of the parameters, such as the price, of the compositecontract, the weighting values of the included component contracts areutilized to adjust the influence of the particular component contract'sattributes upon the computed composite contract parameters.

A market participation selection algorithm is used to select theeligible components in the composite contract based on a voting process,which will be described in more detail in conjunction with FIG. 6. Inthe preferred process, the market participants may cast votes for thecomponent contracts that they want included in the composite contract.Preferably, as described above, during post processing computation ofthe parameters, such as the price, of the composite contract, the numberof votes received by or the number of market participants who voted forthe included component contracts may be utilized to adjust the influenceof the particular component contract's attributes upon the computedcomposite contract parameters. For example, if a first marketparticipant casts 7 votes for a particular component and a second marketparticipant casts 1 vote for the same particular component, those votesand the votes from other market participants will be tallied. If thatparticular component is ultimately included in the composite contract,the first market participant may be obligated to participate in thetrading of the composite contract at a higher level than the secondmarket participant.

A product mix algorithm selects component contracts based upon a desiredlevel of diversification among the component contracts of the compositecontract. Such diversification may be based on volatility, investmentgroup and/or a categorized group. The aggregate pooling selectionalgorithm provides a selection of eligible components based on acategorization or grouping of the underlying component contracts, suchas a large capitalization, small capitalization, currency and/oragricultural products.

Other selection algorithms include algorithms based on a calendar ortime function, such as selecting contracts with particular maturitydates, creation dates, trading duration, etc, algorithms based on theaverage, moving average, or weighted average of a particular attributeof the contract, algorithms based on the most actively traded contracts,hot and cold indexes, technical indicators, investment strategy of theuser, or a price settlement that may be set by a trader or a particularmarket exchange. Further, the selection algorithms may select componentcontracts with a high correlation or anti/low correlation (inversecorrelation) among each other, similar to mutual fund groupings, contrafund, or balance funds. It will be appreciated that a selectionalgorithm may implement a combination of the algorithms described above.

Once component contracts are selected for inclusion in the compositecontract, post processing may be performed by the selection processor203 to determine the parameters of the composite contract, such as theprice or expiration. In determining the parameters of the compositecontract, the attributes of the underlying component contracts may betaken into account. Further, a parameterization algorithm may be used toautomatically compute the parameters of the composite contract based onthe attributes of the underlying component contracts. Theparameterization algorithm may also permit control, automated or userlevel, over the influence of any one or more component contracts on thedetermined parameters of the composite contract. For example, a scalingcontract algorithm may be provided which scales the values of theattributes of the underlying component contracts based on a notionalvalue prior to computing the overall parameters of the compositecontract. This scaling may be based on the votes, weighting valuesassigned to the component contracts during the selection process, orother factors. The composite contract need not have an integer number ofeach component.

The second interface 209 interfaces the composite contract generator 103with the trading engine 105. In one embodiment, second interface 209 maybe implemented as software that is compatible with the communicationlink 102. For example the second interface 209 may be implemented as anapplication program interface (API) program compatible withcommunication link 102. Alternatively, the second interface 209 may beimplemented as a hardware device with pre-processing functionality thatis compatible with the communication link 102. For example a networkinterface, optical sensor interface or Ethernet interface compatiblewith the communication link 102. In another embodiment, second interface209 may be implemented as a combination software and hardware that iscompatible with the communication link 102. The second interface 209transmits the completed composite contract to trading engine 105 fortrading via the communication link 102. In one embodiment, the first andsecond interfaces 201, 209 may be combined into a single interface tothe communications link 102.

Once the composite contract has been generated and transmitted to thetrading engine by the second interface 209, the terminal 101 is notifiedas such to alert the user(s) that the composite contract is complete andavailable for trading. In one embodiment, notifier 211 may beimplemented as software that is compatible with the communication link102. For example the notifier 211 may be implemented as an applicationprogram interface (API) program compatible with communication link 102.Alternatively, the notifier 211 may be implemented in hardware withpre-processing functionality that is compatible with the communicationlink 102. For example, the notifier 211 may include a network interface,optical sensor interface or Ethernet interface that is compatible withthe communication link 102. In another embodiment, notifier 211 may beimplemented as a combination of software and hardware that is compatiblewith the communication link 102. Notifier 211, through a connection withthe selection processor 203, receives a transmission that trading isoccurring at the trading engine 105. The notification of trading istransmitted from the notifier 211 through the communication link 102 tothe terminal 101. In one embodiment, the first and second interfaces201, 209 may be combined with the notifier 211 as a single interfacewith the communications link 102.

Referring to FIG. 1, in an alternative embodiment, the compositecontract generator 103 and trading engine 105 are coupled with acomposite contract terminator 107 by communications link 102. Thecomposite contract terminator 107 is capable of terminating trading of aparticular one or more composite contracts based on user or exchangespecified criteria, such as particular events or threshold levels. Theterminator 107 removes composite contracts from the market according topre-defined or dynamic criteria, as will be described below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a compositecontract terminator 107. The composite contract terminator 107 receivesinformation from the composite contract generator 103 and the tradingengine 105, then compares and analyzes the information with any event orthreshold level stored in the contract terminator to determine iftrading of the composite contract should be terminated.

The composite contract terminator 107 includes a first interface 301, amonitor processor 303 coupled with the first interface 301, a terminatorprocessor 305 coupled with the monitor processor 303, a second interface307 coupled with the terminator processor 305 and a notifier 309 alsocoupled with the terminator processor 305.

In one embodiment, first interface 301 may be implemented as softwarethat is compatible with the communication link 102. For example thefirst interface 301 may be implemented as an application programinterface (API) program compatible with communication link 102.Alternatively, the first interface 301 may be implemented in hardwarewith pre-processing functionality that is compatible with thecommunication link 102. For example, the first interface 301 may includea network interface, optical sensor interface or Ethernet interface thatis compatible with communication link 102. In another embodiment, firstinterface 301 may be implemented as a combination of software andhardware that is compatible with the communication link 102. Firstinterface 301 is operatively coupled with the monitor processor 303.

The first interface 301 receives information from the selectionprocessor 203 in composite contract generator 103 indicating criteriafor terminating the composite contract currently being submitted fortrading to the trading engine. The first interface 301 transmits theinformation to the monitoring processor 303. In an alternate embodiment,the first interface 301 also receives information from data storage 207,wherein the first interface 301 transmits this information to themonitor processor 303. This information from the data storage 207 mayinclude market data information, expert opinion, financial quotes,and/or other information which can be utilized in the determination ofwhether or not to terminate trading of a particular composite contract.

The monitor processor 303 monitors the trading engine 105 to check forcomposite contracts currently being traded by the trading engine 105.Monitor processor 303 is coupled with the trading engine through thesecond interface 307. Monitor processor 303 transmits informationreceived from the data storage 207 and the selection processor 203 tothe termination processor 305 along with information regarding currentlytrading composite contracts.

In one embodiment, monitor processor 303 may be implemented as asoftware algorithm. For example the monitor processor 303 may be aprocessing application program. Alternatively, the monitor processor 303may be implemented as a hardware device or a combination of hardware andsoftware. The hardware device may include a microprocessor,micro-controller, or digital signal processor having an electronicerasable program read only memory (EEPROM) or Flash memory, staticrandom access memory (RAM), a clocking/timing circuit, or any typicalprocessor utilized in an electrical device.

The termination processor 305 compares the information received from themonitor processor 305 with respect to a particular composite contractand the specified termination criteria to determine if any of thespecified criteria have been met, such as the happening of certain eventor the crossing of a particular threshold. For example, if theexpiration date of the composite contract has been reached, then tradingof the composite contract should be terminated. If the terminationprocessor 305 determines that the specified criteria have been met withrespect to the particular composite contract being traded, then thetermination processor 305 terminates the composite contract. Terminationof trading of a particular composite contract is accomplished bytransmitting a termination command to the trading engine to suspendtrading of the particular composite contract. In one embodiment, thetermination processor 305 further includes storage (not shown) forstoring the specified criteria for terminating various compositecontracts currently being traded but whose criteria have not yet beenmet for termination.

In one embodiment, termination processor 305 may be implemented as asoftware algorithm. For example, the termination processor 305 may beimplemented as a processing application program. Alternatively, thetermination processor 305 may be implemented as a hardware device or acombination of hardware and software. The hardware device may include bea microprocessor, micro-controller, or digital signal processor havingan electronic erasable program read only memory (EEPROM) or Flashmemory, static random access memory (RAM), a clocking/timing circuit, orany typical processor utilized in an electrical device.

Exemplary events, conditions or criterion wherein there is no longer aneed to allow trading of a composite contract, and therefore tradingshould be terminated, include wherein a company or industry does notexist, when one or more components of the contract cease to be offered,when one or more market participants vote to terminate the contract.Exemplary termination thresholds include trading volume thresholds,volatility thresholds, dynamic thresholds which change based on othercriteria or any other type of threshold level that has been reached by acomponent of the composite contract or the composite contract itself.Particular threshold evaluations may be dynamically performed over the aparticular window of time, range of price, or range of trading volume,such as volume traded over a fixed period of time, or increase ordecrease of some value of the composite contract over a fixed period oftime. The period of time for such evaluations may be a sliding window.If the threshold level is based on volume or time the threshold levelmay require the volume to increase or alternatively decrease over timefor the trading to continue.

The second interface 307 couples the composite contract terminator 107with the trading engine 105 for the purposes of monitoring currenttrading in composite contracts and transmitting instructions toterminate one or more currently trading composite contracts. In oneembodiment, the second interface 307 may be implemented as software thatis compatible with the communication link 102. For example the secondinterface 307 may be implemented as an application program interface(API) program compatible with communication link 102. Alternatively, thesecond interface 307 may be implemented in hardware with pre-processingfunctionality that is compatible with the communication link 102. Forexample a network interface, optical sensor interface or Ethernetinterface that includes software that is compatible with communicationlink 102. In another embodiment, second interface 307 may be implementedas a combination of software and hardware that is compatible with thecommunication link 102. The second interface 307 is operatively coupledwith the termination processor 305 and the trading engine 105. Thesecond interface 307 receives requests to obtain information aboutcurrently trading composite contracts or information regardingtermination of a composite contract from the termination processor 305,then transmits the requests or information through communication link102 to the trading engine 105.

Notifier 309, via a connection with the termination processor 305,receives a notification that a termination of trading of a compositecontract has occurred. The notifier 309 transmits the notification oftermination of the composite contract to the terminal 101, to inform theuser, and selection processor 203 of the composite contract generator103 by utilizing the communication link 102.

In one embodiment, notifier 309 may be implemented as software that iscompatible with the communication link 102. For example the notifier 309may be implemented as an application program interface (API) programcompatible with communication link 102. Alternatively, the notifier 309may be implemented in hardware with pre-processing functionality that iscompatible with the communication link 102. For example, the notifier309 may include a network interface, optical sensor interface orEthernet interface that is compatible with communication link 102. Inanother embodiment, notifier 309 may be implemented as a combination ofsoftware and hardware that is compatible with the communication link102.

It will be appreciated that within the composite contract terminator107, the first and second interfaces 301, 307, as well as the notifier309, may be combined into a single interface compatible with thecommunications link 102.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that depicts the generation of at least onecomposite contract by the composite contract system 100. This flow chartprovides an example of how the composite contract is generated by thecomposite contract system 100.

The composite contract generator 103 receives instructions through firstinterface 201 to generate one or more composite contracts, which in turnare transmitted to selection processor 203 (block 401). The instructionsinstruct the composite contract generator 103 to generate at least onecomposite contract and insert it into a trading engine 105 for trading.In one embodiment, the instructions comprise a simple command togenerate a composite contract. In an alternative embodiment, theinstructions include criteria for generating the composite contract asdescribed above. In yet another alternative embodiment, the instructionsare generated by an automated process internal in the composite contractgenerator 103 that initiates a generating process. This automatedprocess may be based on market activity, calendar events, etc.

The instructions may be sent from terminal 101 or trading engine 105through the communication link 102 to the first interface of thecomposite contract generator 103. In an alternative embodiment, theinstructions may be internally generated at the terminal 101 or tradingengine 105. In yet another alternative embodiment, the compositecontract generator 103 may receive the instruction from a user atterminal 101. The user may be a trader, a broker, or order entry person.

A pool of eligible components contracts selected from all availablecomponent contracts is identified at the composite contract generator103 (block 403). The selection processor 203, as stated above, includesa gathering device, i.e. identifier 205, that brings together all of theeligible component contracts from the available component contracts indata storage 207. In one embodiment, eligible component contracts may bedefined as those component contracts existing at the time of thegeneration of the composite contract. In an alternate embodiment,eligible component contracts may be determined from available contractsbased on specified criteria, as described above, such as price, type offinancial instrument, volume, volatility etc.

The composite contract generator 103 next selects a set of componentscontracts from the identified pool of eligible component contracts tocreate the one or more composite contracts (block 405). Morespecifically, the selection processor 203 of the composite contractgenerator 103 chooses the set of component contracts to include in thecomposite contract(s). As was described above, the selection processor203 may use different selection algorithms which are based on variousfactors to select the component contracts.

The selected component contracts are then assembled into the one or morecomposite futures contract by computing the parameters of the compositecontract and associating the composite contract with the selectedcomponent contracts (block 407).

The composite contract is then made available to the trading engine 105for trading by the composite contract generator 103 (block 409).Selection processor 203, via the second interface 209, then transmitsthe composite contract through the communications link 102 to thetrading engine 105. Trading engine 105 receives the composite contractand makes the composite contract available to traders for trading andreceives trade instructions and executes trades for the compositecontract.

In one embodiment, the composite contract terminator 107 is utilizedwhen the trading engine 105 begins trading the composite contract. Thecomposite contract terminator 107 receives information about thecomposite contract from the trading engine 105 and market informationfrom data storage 207, as was describe above. The termination processor305 analyzes all the information it receives with the informationrelated to any event or threshold level or other criteria being reachedwith respect to a composite contract to decide if the composite contractshould be terminated. If the termination processor 305 of compositecontract terminator 107 decides that the composite contract should beterminated, then the composite contract terminator 107 instructs thetrading engine 105 to terminate trading of the composite contract.Further, the notifier 309 transmits a notification to terminal 101 andcomposite contract generator 103 indicating that trading of thecomposite contract has been terminated.

Once the composite contract has been made available for trading, anotification of availability of trading the composite contract istransmitted by the composite contract generator 103 to the terminal 101(block 411). The composite contract generator 103 utilizes notifier 211and communication link 102 to transmit the notification to terminal 101.

Once the composite contract has been generated, submitted to the tradingengine 105 and the terminal 101 has been notified as such, the compositecontract generator 103 resets to respond to the next instruction.

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart depicting operation of a market participationbased selection algorithm for use with selection block 405 of the flowchart depicted in FIG. 4. The disclosed embodiments permit the actualtraders/participants to decide the composition of the compositecontracts that they are trading. Generally, the market participationbased selection algorithm allocates votes to various market participantswhich the market participants can then use to vote for the componentcontracts that they want included in the resultant composite contract.The algorithm collects the votes and selects the appropriate componentcontracts based on the vote tally. In one embodiment, the votes cast bya particular market participant also represent a commitment on the partof that participant to generate a prescribed minimum trading volume. Inone alternative embodiment, the higher volume that a market participantis willing to commit to, the more votes they are allocated. The marketparticipation based selection algorithm is implemented by the selectionprocessor 203 as described above. Wherein multiple selection algorithmsare available, the selection processor 203 first determines to selectthe component contracts for the composite contract using the marketparticipation based selection algorithm (block 601). This determinationmay be made based on criteria specified in the composite contractgeneration instructions, described above. In one embodiment, theselection processor 203 initiates the vote allocation and biddingprocess wherein “ballots” are distributed to the participants and theirvotes are collected, tabulated and used in the selection process. Thereare several types of votes that may be used by the market participantsthat include fixed votes for component contracts, multi-vote forcomponent contracts and vote for composition.

A fixed voting system for component contracts is a system in which eachcomponent of the composite contract is voted on by a trader. Forexample, every trader is given five votes for five different componentcontracts. The component contracts with the most votes are pooledtogether in the composite contract. The component contract may have fivecomponent contracts, less or more. The selection of how many componentcontracts are included can be based on a statistical distribution ofvotes. In an example, if 90% of the votes are for two particularcomponent contracts than the composite contract includes only those twocomponent contracts. Alternatively, if six component contracts receive95% of the votes, then the composite contract includes those sixcomponent contracts. A standard deviation or other means can be used inthe selection of the number of component contracts in the compositefutures contract.

A multi-vote system for component contracts allows a trader or person toallocate his votes. For example, if trader 1 got 50 votes, trader 1 mayvote all 50 times for a single (eligible) component he really wants inthe composite contract. Alternatively, the trader can have 40 votes forthe component he most wants and 10 for the second most desirablecomponent.

A vote-for-composition system allows for several compositions to bepre-selected and the market participants can then vote for a particularpre-selected composite contract. The pre-selected compositions may bemanually or automatically generated based on inputs from the votingmarket participants. A single or multi-vote system may be combined withthe vote-for-composition system.

It will be appreciated that other voting systems may be used, includinghybrids of the above voting systems.

The votes may be allocated where each market participant gets apredetermined number of votes, for example one vote per marketparticipant, as described above. Votes may also be allocated in manydifferent ways, such as allocation of votes based on past trading volumeof the composite contract, volume of past trading on any United Statesof America or any financial exchange, market participant's totalinterest, market participant's margin account balance etc. (block 603).

In an alternate embodiment, the market participant's votes obligates themarket participant to trade a minimum amount of the resulting compositecontract. This allocation may be in lieu of or in addition to theallocation of votes described above. For example, if trader 1 commits totrading 50 contracts a day on average and 2 traders commit to tradingtwo contracts a day of the composite contracts, then trader 1 wouldreceive more votes based on the greater commitment. The allocation maybe performed before the voting or as part of the voting process. Thatis, each market participant may be able to cast as many votes as desiredand by casting the votes, obligates himself to a predetermined tradingvolume based on the number of votes cast. The votes may also be weightedby market participant membership rights and/or by the marketparticipant's commitment to trading the proposed composite contract. Themarket participants may also determine or vote for the number ofcomponent contracts in the contract and/or the length/maturity date ofthe composite contract.

The votes of the market participants are then collected and tallied todetermine the component contracts of the composite contract (block 605).In an alternate embodiment, there are two votes, one for the compositionof the composite contract and a second vote for the weighting of theeach of the selected component contracts. The component contracts of thecomposite contracts are then selected by the selection processoraccording to the votes and the process continues at block 407 as shownin FIG. 4 (block 607).

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart depicting operation of a weighting-based postprocessing algorithm for use with the selection block of 405 of the flowchart depicted in FIG. 4. This weighting-based algorithm is executed onthe composite contract after the component contracts have been selectedin order to determine the parameters of the composite contract. Theselection processor 203 receives an instruction to apply the weightingbased algorithm (block 701). The weighting function is then applied tothe component contracts of the composite contract (block 703). Theweighting function is provided to scale the composite contract such thata notional value of the eligible component contracts is different fromthe notional value of the composite contract. In particular, theweighting function includes the use of a notional value to diversify thecontents and the amount of component contracts in the compositecontract. The notional value indicates the total valued of aderivative's or financial instrument's underlying assets. The weightingfunction represents various percentages of component contracts that makeup the composite futures contract. Alternatively, the weighting functioncan be an integer or non-integer value.

In an alternative embodiment, a system for computing the fees charged inrelation to a composite contract is provided. Various fees are chargedby exchanges, such as trading fees, e.g. fees charged for placing anorder, and clearing fees, e.g. fees charged for providing clearingservices for a particular order. Fees are typically charged on a percontract traded basis. These fees may also have associated cap valueswhich limit the total amount of fees charged to a trader or tradingaccount. These caps may be specified on a per commodity basis, i.e.after a certain number of trades of a given commodity in a given timeperiod, e.g. day, week, month, year, etc., for which fees are charged,subsequent trades in that same commodity are free or charged adiscounted fee. Alternatively, or in addition, fee caps may beimplemented for an individual or a trading account, e.g. after a certainnumber of trades are executed for which fees are charged, subsequenttrades from that same individual or trading account are executed forfree or for a discounted fee.

In one embodiment, the exchange desires to encourage traders to trade incomposite contracts. One method of encouraging trades in compositecontracts is to charge fees which are lower than the fees that would beincurred for separately trading the individual component contracts. Inthis embodiment, the trading and/or clearing fee of the compositecontract is set at a value less than the summation of such fees for theindividual component contracts, such as a percentage of the summation ofcomponent fees. In one embodiment, the fees charged for the compositecontract equal the fees charged for a single component contract. In analternative embodiment, the fees for trading a composite are discountedby a fixed amount from the equivalent fees charged for the componentcontracts.

Composite contracts may incur additional fees such as an origination feecharged to the trader who created the composite contract.

Once the fees are charged, proper credit towards the related fee capsmust be given. In one embodiment, credit is awarded towards each caprelated to an underlying component contract. In an alternativeembodiment, additional credit is awarded towards one or more of the feecaps related to an underlying component contract, in order to furtherencourage trading of the composite contract.

In one embodiment, the trading engine includes a fee processor whichmonitors trades and charges appropriate fees to traders and/or tradingaccounts. The fee processor includes a fee calculator and a rateschedule. In one embodiment, the fee processor is implemented as asoftware program and the rate schedule is stored as a database in amemory or other storage device. The fee calculator references the rateschedule to determine the trading and/or clearing fee to be charged fora particular order. The fee calculator further includes discount logicwhich recognizes orders placed for composite contracts and computes theappropriate fees as discussed above. The fee processor is coupled withthe accounting system of the exchange operating the trading engine toand provides the fee calculations and appropriate trade/traderidentification information to the accounting system for billingpurposes.

It is intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded asillustrative rather than limiting and that it be understood that it isthe following claims, including all equivalents, which are intended todefine the scope of the invention.

We claim:
 1. A method for automatically generating a first compositecontract, the method comprising: (a) receiving, by a processor, one ormore votes from each of a plurality of market participants, to generatethe first composite contract, wherein each of the one or more votesspecifies contracts from a first subset of eligible component contractsidentified from a set of available contracts provided by an exchange;(b) selecting, by the processor, a second subset of component contractsfrom the first subset of eligible component contracts based on the oneor more votes from each of the plurality of market participants; and (c)generating, by the processor, the first composite contract based on thesecond subset, the first composite contract characterized by a pricecomputed based on a price of each of the second subset of componentcontracts, wherein the price of the first composite contract, oncecomputed, is disassociated with the price of each of the second subsetof component contracts and free to fluctuate independently of the priceof each of the second subset of component contracts according to amarket on the exchange.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the generatingfurther comprises: determining at least one value of at least oneattribute of each of the component contracts in the second subset; anddefining at least one parameter of the first composite contract as afunction of each of the values.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the atleast one attribute comprises a price of the component contract and theat least one parameter comprises the price of the first compositecontract.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: (d) providingnotification that the first composite contract is available for trading.5. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting further comprisesselecting an eligible component contract from the first subset forinclusion in the second subset based on a volatility of the eligiblecomponent contract.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the selectingfurther comprises selecting an eligible component contract from thefirst subset for inclusion in the second subset based on at least oneattribute of the eligible component contract.
 7. The method of claim 1wherein the selecting further comprises selecting an eligible componentcontract from the first subset for inclusion in the second subset basedon a trading volume of the eligible component contract.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein identifying further comprises identifying an availablecomponent contract from the set of available component contracts forinclusion in the first subset based on at least one attribute of the setof available component contracts, wherein the set of available componentcontracts are represented by data stored on a data storage.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 further comprises obligating the market participant,based on the casting of the at least one vote, to generate a minimumtrading volume for the first composite contract.
 10. The method of claim9 wherein the minimum trading volume for the at least one marketparticipant is a function of a number of votes cast by the marketparticipant.
 11. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting aneligible component contract from the first subset for inclusion in thesecond subset based on the at least one vote cast therefore.
 12. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising allocating a number of votes toeach of the plurality of market participants to be cast thereby, thenumber of votes being allocated based on trading volumes of at least onepreviously traded composite contract.
 13. The method of claim 1, furthercomprises: (d) receiving, from the market participant, instruction togenerate a second composite contract; (e) selecting, by the processor inresponse to the instruction, a fourth subset of component contracts froma third subset of eligible component contracts identified from the setof available component contracts provided by the exchange; and (f)generating the second composite contract based on the fourth subset, thesecond composite contract characterized by a price computed based on aprice of each of the fourth subset of component contracts, the price ofthe second composite contract, once computed, being disassociated withthe price of each of the fourth subset of component contracts and freeto fluctuate independently of the price of each of the fourth subset ofcomponent contracts.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the generatingthe second composite contract further comprises: determining at leastone value of at least one attribute of each of the component contract inthe fourth subset; and defining the at least one parameter of the secondcomposite contract as a function of each of the values.
 15. The methodof claim 13 further comprising providing notification that the secondcomposite contract is available for trading.
 16. The method of claim 1further comprising: monitoring, by the processor, trading of the firstcomposite contract; determining whether an event has occurred;terminating trading of the first composite contract when it isdetermined that the event has occurred; and generating a notificationthat trading of the first composite contract has been terminated whentrading of the first composite contract has been terminated.
 17. Themethod of claim 16 wherein the event comprises reaching a threshold, themethod further comprising terminating, automatically, trading of thecomposite contract when the threshold is reached.
 18. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the selecting further comprises selecting the secondsubset of component contracts from the first subset based on criteriaspecified in the one or more votes.
 19. The method of claim 1 whereinthe selecting further comprises selecting the second subset of componentcontracts from the first subset based on a selection algorithm.
 20. Themethod of claim 19 wherein the selection algorithm comprises correlatingtwo or more of the component contracts of the first subset and selectingthose component contracts whose correlation exceeds a threshold,computing a weighting value for one or more of the component contractsof the first subset and selecting those component contracts whoseweighted value exceeds a threshold, identifying diversification of eachcomponent contract of the first subset as compared to each othercomponent contract of the first subset and selecting those componentcontracts whose diversity exceeds a threshold, or combinations thereof.21. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting further comprisesselecting the second subset of component contracts from the first subsetbased on criteria specified in the one or more votes in combination witha selection algorithm.
 22. A system for generating a composite contract,the system comprising: a processor operative to receive one or morevotes from each of a plurality of market participants to generate acomposite futures contract, wherein each of the one or more votesspecifies contracts from a first subset of eligible component contractsidentified from a set of available contracts provided by an exchange;and wherein the processor is operative, based on the instruction, toselect a second subset of component contracts from the first subset ofeligible component contracts and generate the composite contract basedon the second subset, the composite contract characterized by a pricecomputed based on a price of each of the second subset of componentcontracts, wherein the price of the composite contract, once computed,is disassociated with the price of the each of the second subset ofcomponent contracts and free to fluctuate independently of the price ofeach of the second subset of component contracts according to a marketon the exchange; and a trading engine coupled with the processor,wherein the trading engine is operative to receive the compositecontract for trading.
 23. The system of claim 22 wherein the processoris operative to monitor trading of the composite contract and terminatetrading of the composite contract based on the occurrence of an event.24. The system of claim 22 wherein the event comprises reaching athreshold, the processor being further to terminate, automatically,trading of the composite contract when the threshold is reached.
 25. Thesystem of claim 22 wherein the processor is further operative to selectthe second subset of component contracts from the first subset based oncriteria specified in the first instruction.
 26. The system of claim 22wherein the processor is further operative to select the second subsetof component contracts from the first subset based on a selectionalgorithm.
 27. The system of claim 26 wherein the selection algorithmcomprises a correlation of two or more of the component contracts of thefirst subset and a selection those component contracts whose correlationexceeds a threshold, a computation of a weighting value for one or moreof the component contracts of the first subset and a selection of thosecomponent contracts whose weighted value exceeds a threshold, anidentification of diversification of each component contract of thefirst subset as compared to each other component contract of the firstsubset and a selection those component contracts whose diversity exceedsa threshold, or combinations thereof.
 28. The system of claim 22 whereinthe processor is further operative to select the second subset ofcomponent contracts from the first subset based on criteria specified inthe first instruction in combination with a selection algorithm.
 29. Acomposite contract generator comprising: an interface operative toreceive one or more votes from a plurality of market participants togenerate a composite contract, wherein each of the one or more votesspecifies contracts from a first subset of eligible component contractsidentified from a set of available contracts provided by an exchange,and wherein a processor is further coupled with the interface andoperative to receive the instruction therefrom; and wherein theprocessor is operative to select, based on the instruction, a secondsubset of component contracts from the first subset of eligiblecomponent contracts, wherein the processor is further operative togenerate the composite contract based on the second subset, thecomposite contract characterized by a price computed based on a price ofeach of the second subset of component contracts, wherein the price ofthe composite contract, once computed, is disassociated with the priceof each of the second subset of component contracts and free tofluctuate independently of the price of each of the second subset ofcomponent contracts according to a market on the exchange.
 30. Thecomposite contract generator of claim 29 further comprising a datastorage coupled to the identifier, wherein the data storage includesdata representative of the available component contracts.
 31. Thecomposite contract generator of claim 30 wherein the identifier isoperative to access the data representative of the available componentcontracts from the data storage.
 32. The composite contract generator ofclaim 31, further comprising a notifier coupled to the selectionprocessor, wherein the notifier is operative to transmit informationthat trading of the composite contract is occurring.
 33. The compositecontract generator of claim 29 wherein the processor is operative tomonitor trading of the composite contract and terminate trading of thecomposite contract based on the occurrence of an event.
 34. Thecomposite contract generator of claim 33 wherein the event comprisesreaching a threshold, the processor being further to terminate,automatically, trading of the composite contract when the threshold isreached.
 35. The composite contract generator of claim 29 wherein theprocessor is further operative to select the second subset of componentcontracts from the first subset based on criteria specified in the firstinstruction.
 36. The composite contract generator of claim 29 whereinthe processor is further operative to select the second subset ofcomponent contracts from the first subset based on a selectionalgorithm.
 37. The composite contract generator of claim 36 wherein theselection algorithm comprises a correlation of two or more of thecomponent contracts of the first subset and a selection those componentcontracts whose correlation exceeds a threshold, a computation of aweighting value for one or more of the component contracts of the firstsubset and a selection of those component contracts whose weighted valueexceeds a threshold, an identification of diversification of eachcomponent contract of the first subset as compared to each othercomponent contract of the first subset and a selection those componentcontracts whose diversity exceeds a threshold, or combinations thereof.38. The composite contract generator of claim 29 wherein the processoris further operative to select the second subset of component contractsfrom the first subset based on criteria specified in the firstinstruction in combination with a selection algorithm.
 39. A system forgenerating a composite contract, the system comprising: means forreceiving an instruction from a market participant to generate acomposite contract, wherein the instruction is one or more votes forcomposite contracts; means for selecting, based on the instruction, asecond subset of component contracts from a first subset of eligiblecomponent contracts identified from a set of available componentcontracts provided by an exchange; means for generating the compositecontract based on the second subset, the composite contractcharacterized by a price computed based on a price of each of the secondsubset of component contracts, wherein the price of the compositecontract, once computed, is disassociated with the price of each of thesecond subset of component contracts and free to fluctuate independentlyof the price of each of the second subset of component contracts; andmeans for transmitting the composite contract for trading.
 40. Anapparatus for a composite contract generator, the apparatus comprising:means for receiving an instruction from a market participant to generatea composite contract, wherein the instruction is one or more votes forcomposite contracts; means for selecting, based on the instruction, aset of component contracts from a set of available component contractsprovided by an exchange; and means for generating the composite contractbased on the set of component contracts, the composite contractcharacterized by a price computed based on a price of each of the set ofcomponent contracts, wherein the price of the composite contract, oncecomputed, is disassociated with the price of each of the set ofcomponent contracts and free to fluctuate independently of the price ofeach of the set of component contracts.